Hindu Festivals 2026: Dates, Puja Vidhi, Vrat & Significance

The Hindu festival calendar is a luni-solar cycle in which most vrats and festivals are fixed by the tithi (lunar day), nakshatra (star) and paksha (waxing or waning fortnight) rather than by a fixed English date. That is why a festival such as Diwali or Holi falls on a different Gregorian date each year. This directory lists each festival with its 2026 date, the story behind it, and how it is observed.

Every guide is written to be useful for the whole family. You will find the date and tithi, the deity honoured, the legend or historical background, the puja vidhi (step-by-step worship), vrat and fasting rules, the traditional foods and offerings, regional variations, and a set of frequently asked questions - all on one clean, mobile-friendly page.

Dates are calculated from the Panchang, the traditional almanac that tracks the position of the sun and moon. A festival is tied to a specific tithi in a specific lunar month, so its Gregorian date shifts year to year and can even differ slightly by region because sunrise and moonrise vary by location. Each guide gives the date for the current year along with the ruling tithi.

The most widely celebrated include Makar Sankranti, Maha Shivratri, Holi, Ram Navami, Hanuman Jayanti, Akshaya Tritiya, Guru Purnima, Raksha Bandhan, Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri, Dussehra, Karwa Chauth, Diwali and Chhath. Alongside these you will find Ekadashi vrats, Amavasya and Purnima observances, and a wide range of regional festivals.

Festivals are listed in alphabetical rows, 24 to a page. Use the numbered pagination under the grid to move to the next set. Each page has its own web address (for example /festivals/page/2/), so search engines can crawl and index every festival in the directory.

Yes. Beyond the pan-Indian festivals, the collection covers Tamil observances such as Aadi Perukku and Thai Pusam, Bengali pujas, Maharashtrian and Gujarati vrats, Ekadashi and Pradosh days, and many temple-specific and seasonal festivals, so that both familiar and lesser-known days are documented in one place.